Boundary contour-based surface integration affected by color.

The visual system represents occluded surfaces by integrating the visible and partially occluded fragments with reliance on surface boundary contours. Does surface integration also depend on color similarity? Using displays with aligned images, we found the visual system has a preference to integrate images with the same color to form occluded surfaces and construct illusory occluding surfaces. This results in enhanced shape discrimination of briefly presented stimuli, and a tendency to perceive global motion of the integrated fragments. The contribution of color to surface integration is observed both in equiluminous setting and in non-equiluminous setting, where achromatic contrast exists. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.